


Shout

by flowersforgraves



Series: BTHB [37]
Category: Valor Series - Tanya Huff
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Bad Things Happen Bingo, Gen, Mission Fic, Pre-Canon, Vignette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-31
Updated: 2019-08-31
Packaged: 2020-10-04 04:08:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20464769
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flowersforgraves/pseuds/flowersforgraves
Summary: Ressk and Mysho lose comms in the middle of a mission.





	Shout

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt from distractionactivated on tumblr: communication suddenly cut off and Valor
> 
> Card: [here on Imgur](https://imgur.com/VtOGzNh) // List of claimed prompts: [here on Tumblr](https://flowersforgraves.tumblr.com/post/184817489731/)
> 
> Prompt me via Dreamwidth or Tumblr!

It’s fukking dark, and cold, and they’ve been slogging through this scrubland for hours. Sh’quo Company is exhausted, but the lieutenant insists they press on. Gunny has sent Glicksohn out with Hollice’s and Mysho’s fireteams to clear the way, which is both a blessing and a curse. At the moment, it’s leaning toward curse, as the conversation turns to the lieutenant’s parentage, among other things.

“It’s ‘cause he doesn’t carry his shit like everyone else,” Haysole grumbles over a private connection. 

“Nah, it’s stuck up his ass,” Checya quips, and Binti grunts a breathless laugh. “If he was the one carrying fifty fukking pounds on his back he wouldn’t be laughing.”

“Shut up,” Hollice says, cutting into the conversation. “We’re being watched.” 

Nerd that he is, he takes his job as fireteam leader seriously. Normally Binti doesn’t mind, or at least thinks it’s funny, but she’s tired and losing her brain-to-mouth filter. “I call bull,” she says. “Come on, Hollice, we’re all just trying to get through this.”

“He’s right,” Mysho says. She sounds staticky, like she’s losing connection. “I got something on scanner north-nor’west. Ressk, confirm.”

Ressk makes a sound that’s less like a word and more like a wounded animal. “Confirmed,” he says finally. Binti can’t hear him very well either, which indicates it might be location-based rather than an issue with the comms. 

“Mysho, you’re not coming in clear,” Hollice says before Binti can get the words out. 

“Static?” Mysho asks. 

“Yes,” Binti confirms. “I think --”

She only gets a couple words out before Glicksohn broadcasts to all of them over the secure channel they’re supposed to be using. “Stop chit-chatting! We’re here on business.” He’s not going to write them up for anything, and they all know it, but Glicksohn is a sergeant, and part of that means he can threaten them with authority. 

“We’re talking business,” Mysho says to Glicksohn. “We’re just out of --”

Her audio cuts off with a loud, metallic click.

Binti pings first Mysho, then Ressk. Their implants don’t return the query, and her stomach twists. "Permission to go after them, Sarge," she says.

"Me too," Checya says, half a beat behind her.

Glicksohn doesn't transmit his sigh, but Binti's mind fills it in anyway. "Checya, you're with me. Hollice, Mashona, Haysole, you'll go finish the scouting mission. Stay in regular contact."

"_Sarge_," Binti says, and she's lost any semblance of professionalism. "It's _Ressk_. Please."

Hollice pings her implant, gentle and reassuring. She doesn't transmit anything back -- it's not fair to take out her anxiety on her fireteam leader, no matter how much she wants a target.

Glicksohn hums. Binti wonders for a moment if he remembers he's still on the patrol's channel before he turns the noise into words. "Request denied, Mashona. You'll proceed as ordered." His voice softens briefly. "Keep pinging them, Binti. And us. We'll tell you asap what we find."

She lets out a shuddering breath in the quiet of her own helmet before she says, "Okay, Sarge."

Hollice sends her another ping, a question, before he opens a private channel to her. "Binti. Can you handle this?"

She's not offended by the bluntness of the question. "Yeah, Hollice," she says, sounding less sure than she'd like. "I know how to compartmentalize."

Haysole breaks into a channel with the three of them. "Let's fukking go," he says. "Faster we get this done, faster we can get to help Mysho and Ressk."

"Come on, then," Hollice says, and so they do.


End file.
